For the final café of my Busan trip, I headed to the trendy neighbourhood of Jeonpo. Along a strip of streets lined with restaurants, cafes and small shops, there’s a café with a red brick façade.
No Cap is a medium sized café that had polished concrete floors and concrete walls and a ceiling painted in white. There were broken off parts of the original concrete walls and patches of old white tiles that added texture to the space. This gave the space a slightly demolished feel, all the while adding character.
Wood was another key texture in the space and it helped to balance off the coolness of the concrete. The ordering counter was a long bar made of lovely warm toned wood that also had display cabinet that showed the café’s goods. There were matching shelves and bar seats made of the same wood, and a section of the café that had an L shaped bench and table that was also made of wood.
For the design elements, with a name like No Cap you can somewhat guess that the theme of the café will have something to do with modern street culture. However, entering the cafe you can see there is an ingenious mix of urban street culture and traditional Korean culture.
Odes to street culture were everywhere. There was graffiti spray painted onto the walls and some of the posters. There were posters, books, and other paraphernalia that related to mid-century advertisements, basketball, street culture, music and modern pop culture.
Yet alongside this, there were old style ink paintings and posters, and even Buddhist figures. However the two eras really came together in a brilliant mural at the front of the café. The large mural was a parody of a famous painting by Kim Dongho depicting spectators watching a wrestling match. This mural depicts Joseon dynasty era men fighting modern day skater and street culture men. This really helped to cleverly execute the mixing of traditional Korean culture and street culture. This also meant that the place was a hot spot for insta pics.
For seating, most of the seating was inside. There were seats along the bar, the L shaped bench that could seat a big group as well as a few seats outside the café. However most of the seats were for 2-3 people. These seats were low and had tables made from plastic crates and skateboard decks. This meant that the café was more suited to socialising.
In terms of drinks, I got a peach ade and my friend got and iced americano. My friend said the iced americano had a fair flavour, but with nothing special to note. The peach ade was very sweet and refreshing especially for a hot day.
No Cap is a cafe that has a clear concept. In dead beat terms this café is where street culture and tradition meet and have beautiful baby. For all the cafes in the area, it’s a great pick for fans of street culture, as well as people who have a keen eye for spaces that are well thought out.
Comments